Yes, yes, this is exactly my problem with Rafael. I have no problem with him as a romantic endgame, but dear Lord, can't you give him something to do that isn't *just* being a romantic endgame?

Yes, Laurel, you look very serious and dangerous. Now change out of the dress-up clothes, please; Halloween was weeks ago, and no one's going to give you anymore candy.

The thing about The Good Wife, though, is that characters, even characters we like, often espouse positions that are sensible to them, but aren't the position of the show. The Good Wife really does exist in a moral grey area, and when a character gets the last word with Alicia, it's usually just to give her something…

I didn't like it either, but it was easy enough for me to live with because it was a believable answer—as you pointed out—and because I don't think Alicia's going to convert any time soon. It's a personal issue I have with Dean's character, not with the narrative.

Not to pick a fight or anything, but it's a little dismissive to say that it's "not that Alicia doesn't believe in God." She doesn't believe in God, and while that may sometimes make it easier for her to lose herself in moral grey areas, I don't think there's much evidence of a causal connection there. Alicia has…

I feel like IM3 had him out of costume and without the mask because the whole point of the movie was about figuring out who he was without the Iron Man suit.

There might be something to that. On the other hand, I think that this episode's Colin Sweeney plot was meant to hint at/further some less-predictable long-game plots. In particular, I think we needed to see Finn in the courtroom, prosecuting someone (for all sorts of reasons—it was integral to the political arc, to…

Really the only problem with the A-plot is Renata's final monologue. It was incredibly well directed, and it's Colin Sweeney, so the sex-and-death thing is kind of, you know, the deal. The Good Wife often shifts genres slightly depending on the client of the week. If Renata's final monologue had been subtle (or…

SHEER elegance in its simplicity. (Lord, I miss that show.)

No. It always happened this way, the Doctor just forgot about it. That's the implication. If it hadn't always happened this way, there never would have been a time-painting called "Gallifrey Falls No More" for Elizabeth to leave as a calling card. (And I believe the fez in the underground vault was also meant to be…

I am fully aware that there is a difference between reality and perception. I'm fully aware that people react, not to reality, but to their perception of reality. I'm merely saying that in a case such as this, to me, it matters that the reality is so different from the perception. I understand that the Doctor spent…

10 was a fast-talking, incredibly arrogant, ceaselessly curious man. He was awed by almost everything, but especially big-time historical figures and any sort of alien life. And by awed, I mean he would not shut up about them. Similarly, when clever ideas occur to him or anyone else around him, he's *gleeful*. He…

I don't much care *how* things happened—just *that* they happened. I care a lot about characters and characterization, which means I object pretty fundamentally to anything that comes off as screwing with them to no purpose, or in any way cheapening their character arcs. Anyway, I recognize that a lot of people…

First of all, John Hurt was speaking about a commitment he believed *all* the Doctors had made, from the very first.

It wouldn't have changed his character, but it would change my impression of the worth of the story, since Harry's story is all about coming of age when you've been singled out and isolated, and about sacrifice—and why should he have to learn about those things, when he was never alone in the first place and there…

The angstiness isn't what I care about. It's the actual weight of what happens. It's not particularly important—indeed, it's a little perverse—to see the Doctor's long, fraught journey to come to terms with the genocide he committed, if he never actually committed one. I mean, what's the point of it, then? Is it just…

Even if this had been a phenomenally written episode—which it wasn't, given the over-reliance on timey-wimeyness, the lingering plot-holes, and the outright strange characterization of 10—the retcon alone is enough to make it, for me, one of the poorest entries in the series. I love the idea of having Gallifrey back.…